SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 223624, July 17, 2019
HEIRS OF LEONARDA NADELA TOMAKIN, NAMELY: LUCAS NADELA, OCTAVIO N. TOMAKIN, ROMEO N. TOMAKIN, MA. CRISTETA* T. PANOPIO, AND CRESCENCIO** TOMAKIN, JR. (DECEASED), REPRESENTED BY HIS HEIRS, BARBARA JEAN R. TOMAKIN RAFOLS*** AND CRISTINA JEAN R. TOMAKIN, PETITIONERS, v. HEIRS OF CELESTINO NAVARES, NAMELY: ERMINA N. JACA, NORMITA NAVARES, FELINDA N. BALLENA, RHODORA N. SINGSON, CRISTINA N. CAL ORTIZ, ROCELYN N. SENCIO, JAIME B. NAVARES, CONCHITA N. BAYOT, PROCULO NAVARES, LIDUVINA N. VALLE, MA. DIVINA N. ABIS, VENUSTO B. NAVARES AND RACHELA N. TAHIR, RESPONDENTS.
D E C I S I O N
CAGUIOA, J.:
Before the Court is a Petition for Review on Certiorari1 (Petition) under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court (Rules) assailing the Decision2 dated October 28, 2014 (CA Decision) and the Resolution3 dated March 23, 2016 of the Court of Appeals4 (CA) in CA-G.R. CEB CV No. 03806. The CA Decision granted the appeal of respondents Heirs of Celestino Navares (respondents Navares) as well as reversed and set aside the Decision5 dated May 6, 2010 rendered by the Regional Trial Court, Branch 23, 7th Judicial Region, Cebu City (RTC) in Civil Case No. CEB-30246, which was in favor of petitioners Heirs of Leonarda Nadela Tomakin (petitioners Tomakin). The CA Resolution dated March 23, 2016 denied the Motion for Reconsideration6 filed by petitioners Tomakin.
The property in dispute is Lot No. 84677 originally owned by the late Jose Badana who died without issue. He was survived by his two sisters Quirina Badana and Severina Badana. The property was then covered by Original Certificate of Title No. RO-2230 (O-7281) in the name of Jose Badana.
On 18 May 2004, [Heirs of Celestino Navares (respondents Navares)] filed a Complaint for Reconveyance and Damages against [Heirs of Leonarda Nadela Tomakin (petitioners Tomakin)] before the RTC x x x.
In their complaint, [respondents Navares] alleged (a) that on 23 February 1955, Quirina Badana, as heir of her brother Jose Badana, sold one-half (½) of Lot No. 8467 to the late spouses Remigio Navares and Cesaria Gaviola, which portion, as claimed, is known as Lot No. 8467-B as evidenced by Sale with Condition;8 (b) that as successors-in-interest of the late spouses [Navares], [respondents Navares] inherited Lot No. 8467-B; (c) that they and their predecessors had been religiously paying realty taxes on Lot No. 8467-B since 1955; (d) that most of them had been occupying and residing on the property adversely and openly in the concept of an owner; (e) that on 6 December 1957, Severina Badana sold the other half of Lot No. 8467 known as Lot No. 8467-A to spouses Aaron Nadela and Felipa Jaca, the predecessors-in-interest of [petitioners Tomakin].9
On 30 October 1991, [petitioner] Lucas Nadela, together with Leonarda N. Tomakin, sold a portion of Lot No. 8467 with an area of 1,860 square meters out of what they inherited from [s]pouses Aaron Nadela and Felipa Jaca to spouses Alfredo Dacua, Jr. and Clarita Bacalso. The sale was evidenced by a Deed of Absolute Sale.10 [Respondents Navares] alleged that on the basis of this Absolute Sale, x x x Alfredo Dacua, Jr.11 caused Lot No. 8467-A to be titled in his name. [Respondents Navares] further alleged that on 10 January 1994, [petitioners Tomakin] made it x x x appear that one Mauricia12 Bacus (a complete stranger to the property) executed a document denominated as Extra Judicial Settlement of the Estate of Jose Badana with Confirmation of Sale; and that on the basis of this document, x x x Alfredo Dacua, Jr. maliciously caused Lot No. 8467-B to be titled in the name of Leonarda Nadela Tomakin and Lucas J. Nadela under Transfer Certificate of Title No. 131499.13 Oral demands were made by [respondents Navares] upon [petitioners Tomakin] to reconvey the title of Lot No. 8467-B which remained unheeded.
In their Answer, [petitioners Tomakin] claimed that they are the heirs of the late Leonarda Tomakin; that Lot No. 8467 was purchased by [s]pouses Aaron Nadela and Felipa Jaca from Severina Badana, sister-heir of the late Jose Badana, as evidenced by a Deed of Absolute Sale dated 6 December 1957;14 that the heirs of [spouses] Aaron Nadela and Felipa Jaca, namely Leonarda N. Tomakin and her brother Lucas J. Nadela executed a Deed of Partition conveying x x x Lot No. 8467 in favor of Leonarda N. Tomakin; that before Leonarda Tomakin died, she and her brother Lucas Nadela sold the one-half (½) portion of Lot No. 8467 in favor of [s]pouses Alfredo Dacua, Jr. and Clarita Bacalso evidenced by a Deed of Absolute Sale;15 that [s]pouses Aaron Nadela and Felipa Jaca, their heirs Leonard[a] N. Tomakin and Lucas Nadela and, thereafter, [petitioners Tomakin] have been exercising acts of ownership over Lot No. 8467 and Lot No. 8467-B. Lastly, [petitioners Tomakin] averred that [respondents Navares] are barred by prescription and laches – 49 years having elapsed since the alleged sale of the ½ portion of the property in 1955.
On 6 May 2010, the RTC rendered the assailed Decision in favor of [petitioners Tomakin] and against [respondents Navares]. It ruled that [respondents Navares] failed to prove that they are the rightful owners of Lot No. 8467-B. x x x16
[The dispositive portion of the RTC Decision reads as follows:]WHEREFORE, foregoing premises considered, judgment is hereby rendered directing [respondents Navares]:
1) to return the owner's copy of TCT No. 131499 to [petitioners Tomakin];
2) to pay [petitioners Tomakin] [a]ttorney's fees in the amount of P30,000.00;
3) to pay [petitioners Tomakin] litigation expenses in the amount of P10,000.00.
SO ORDERED.17
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Appeal is GRANTED. The Decision, dated 6 May 2010, rendered by the Regional Trial Court, Branch 23, 7th Judicial Region, Cebu City in CIVIL CASE NO. CEB – 30246 for Reconveyance and Damages is hereby REVERSED AND SET ASIDE, to wit:(a) DECLARING the Deed of Sale dated 6 December 1957, insofar as Lot No. 8647-B [now covered by TCT No. 131499] is concerned, as null and void; and
(b) DECLARING TCT No. 131499 in the name of Leonarda Nadela Tomakin and Lucas J. Nadela as null and void and ORDERING the Register of Deeds of Cebu City to cancel said title and to issue, in lieu thereof, new title in the name of the Heirs of Celestino Navares.
SO ORDERED.24
[Petitioners Tomakin] assert, [respondents Navares'] possession of the property is not in the concept of an owner.
We are not persuaded.
In [Sps.] Alfredo v. [Sps.] Borras,31 the Court ruled that prescription does not run against the plaintiff in actual possession of the disputed land because such plaintiff has a right to wait until his possession is disturbed or his title is questioned before initiating an action to vindicate his right. His undisturbed possession gives him the continuing right to seek the aid of a court of equity to determine the nature of the adverse claim of a third party and its effect on his title. The Court held that where the plaintiff in an action for reconveyance remains in possession of the subject land, the action for reconveyance becomes in effect an action to quiet title to property, which is not subject to prescription.
The action for reconveyance was filed by [respondents Navares] precisely because they deemed themselves owner of the litigated property prior to the claim of [petitioners Tomakin]. The filing of such action was an assertion of their title to the property. Thus, the question of whether or not [respondents Navares] are in possession of the subject property in the concept of an owner is a question of fact; and such question of fact has already been resolved by this Court in Our Decision.32
SEC. 48. Certificate not subject to collateral attack. – A certificate of title shall not be subject to collateral attack. It cannot be altered, modified, or cancelled except in a direct proceeding in accordance with law.
"SEC. 15. Questions that may be raised on appeal. – Whether or not the appellant has filed a motion for new trial in the court below, he may include in his assignment of errors any question of law or fact that has been raised in the court below and which is within the issues framed by the parties."37
x x x A party cannot, on appeal, change fundamentally the nature of the issue in the case. When a party deliberately adopts a certain theory and the case is decided upon that theory in the court below, he will not be permitted to change the same on appeal, because to permit him to do so would be unfair to the adverse party. Accordingly, "courts of justice have no jurisdiction or power to decide a question not in issue." Thus, a judgment that goes beyond the issues and purports to adjudicate something on which the court did not hear the parties, is not only irregular but also extrajudicial and invalid. The rule rests on the fundamental tenets of fair play[, justice and due process43].44
Endnotes:
* Also spelled as "Cristita" in some parts of the rollo.
** Also stated as "Cresencio" in some parts of the rollo.
*** Also appears as "Barbara Jean Tomakin-Rafols" in some parts of the rollo.
1Rollo, pp. 3-22, excluding Annexes.
2 Id. at 25-37. Penned by Associate Justice Renato C. Francisco, with Associate Justices Gabriel T. Ingles and Pamela Ann Abella Maxino concurring.
3 Id. at 55-58. Penned by Associate Justice Gabriel T. Ingles, with Associate Justices Pamela Ann Abella Maxino and Geraldine C. Fiel-Macaraig concurring.
4 Eighteenth (18th) Division and Special Former Eighteenth (18th) Division, respectively.
5Rollo, pp. 128-131. Penned by Presiding Judge Generosa G. Labra.
6 Id. at 38-52. Denominated as "Motion for Reconsideration of the Decision dated 28 October 2014 and Formal Entry of Appearance."
7 Located at Inayawan, Cebu City. Id. at 101.
8 "That the VENDOR, in executing this conveyance hereby RESERVES her right to the fruits or products of the land herein conveyed during her lifetime, and the VENDEES, in accepting the same hereby OBLIGATES themselves to acknowledge the said right, provided, however, that upon the termination of the said lifetime of the VENDOR, then this document shall become absolute without the necessity of drawing a new deed of absolute sale." Id. at 102.
9Rollo, p. 111
10 Id. at 104.
11 Impleaded as one of the defendants in the RTC but is not impleaded as petitioner in the instant Petition.
12 Spelled as "Maurecia" in the Extra Judicial Settlement of Estate of Deceased Jose Badana with Confirmation of Sale. In the said document, it is stated that Jose Badana, the registered owner of the parcel of land covered by OCT No. RO-2230 (O-7281), died single and was survived by his two sisters, Severina Badana and Quirina Badana; Severina Badana sold the said property to spouses Aaron Nadela and Felipa Jaca pursuant to a Deed of Absolute Sale on December 5, 1957; Severina Badana and Quirina Badana died without any issue except Mauricia Badana who is their only cousin; and Mauricia Badana, as "the sole and only living and direct heir of Jose Badana," had adjudicated unto herself the said estate of Jose Badana. Rollo, pp. 88-89.
13Rollo, p. 90.
14 The sale appears to be inscribed on OCT No. RO-2230 (O-7281) on January 3, 1995. Id. at 27.
15 The sale appears to be inscribed on OCT No. RO-2230 (O-7281) on January 3, 1995. Id.
16Rollo, pp. 26-28.
17 Id. at 131.
18 Id. at 132.
19 Id. at 30-31.
20 Id. at 32.
21 Id.
22 Id.
23 Id. at 36.
24 Id. at 36-37.
25 Id. at 55-58.
26 Id. at 159.
27 Id. at 5-6.
28 RULES OF COURT, Rule 45, Sec. 6.
29Rollo, p. 39.
30 Id. at 55-58.
31 452 Phil. 178, 206 (2003).
32Rollo, p. 57.
33 92 Phil. 826 (1953).
34 Id. at 831.
35 See rollo, pp. 44-47.
36 Id. at 64-71.
37 Willard B. Riano, CIVIL PROCEDURE, VOLUME I, THE BAR LECTURES SERIES (2011 Bantam Edition), p. 579.
38Rollo, pp. 78-80.
39 Id. at 79.
40 Id. at 128-131.
41 Id. at 129.
42 535 Phil. 481 (2006).
43 Id. at 490, citing Canada v. All Commodities Marketing Corporation, 590 Phil. 342, 348 (2008).
44 Willard B. Riano, supra note 37, at 579-581.
45 Id. at 581, citing Imani v. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company, 649 Phil. 647, 661-662 (2010).
46 Supra note 31.
47Rollo, p. 57.